Adviser Service Associate
for Retirement Plan Advisory Group (RPAG) in CA

Director, Employee Relations, Compensation, and HR Consultation
for Saint Mary's College of California in CA

Client Service Manager
for The Newport Group in FL, NC, WI

Manager, Benefits Plan Data And Financials
for University of California, Office of the President in CA

Postdoctoral Scholar Benefits Program Coordinator
for University of California, Office of the President in CA

401(k) Relationship Manager
for Leading Financial Services Firm in IL, MO

Recordkeeping Manager
for WESPAC in CA

Account Mgr
for The Standard in TX

Senior DB Data Analyst
for Diversified in MA

Manager, Compliance Services
for Lincoln Financial Group in IL, IN

H.R. / Administrative Manager
for Southern California Pipe Trades Administrative Corporation in CA

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Federal Mental Health Parity: What Employers Need to Know Now
Nationwide on July 26, 2012 presented by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans

Free Webinar - Innovative Ideas for Pension Funding and Administration
Nationwide on August 23, 2012 presented by University Conference Services

2012 Las Vegas Mid-Sized Retirement & Healthcare Plan Management Conference
Nationwide on September 9, 2012 presented by University Conference Services

Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program Workshop
in Washington on August 15, 2012 presented by U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

"Participant Disclosures After FAB 2012-2: A Game Changer" Web Seminar
Nationwide on July 17, 2012 presented by SunGard Relius

 

ACA Deadlines Loom for Reporting and Disclosure
"if an employer has been holding off from comprehensive implementation, a reminder of the four most important health reform requirements with looming adoption dates could be helpful. Two of the four pressing matters have to do with estimating the value of coverage and reporting it to the IRS and to plan participants." (Thompson SmartHR Manager)

Take the Hassle Out of Enrollment   [Advert.]

BeneCom creates effective enrollment communications. And with our 20 years of experience behind you, communications is one less job you have to worry about so you can get back to what matters most ̶ your employees!

Health Insurers to Reduce Scheduled Rate Hikes for California Small Employers
"Tens of thousands of small businesses in California collectively will save $48 mil.lion on their health insur.ance bills starting this month now that three insurers have agreed to reduce pending rate hikes. State Insur.ance Commissioner Dave Jones announced Friday that Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield Life and Health Co. and Aetna are modifying rate hikes that took effect July 1 for small group policies, covering employers with fewer than 50 people insured." (Los Angeles Times)

American Airlines Seeks Bankrup.tcy Court Ruling Canceling Health Care Obligation to Retirees
"American Airlines and its parent company are suing to stop providing health care and life insur.ance benefits to current retirees. AMR Corp. and American filed the lawsuit Friday as part of their bankrup.tcy case in federal court in New York. The airline wants the bankrup.tcy judge to rule that it can end the benefits as a way to cut costs in 'sound business judgment.' American says it never promised benefits to last the retirees' entire lives, and it reserved the right to change the benefits plan. The company has about 40,000 retirees." (Associated Press, via YahooNews)

Proposed Essential Health Benefits Rule Draws Few Comments
"The latest effort by the Department of Health and Human Services to establish requirements for essential health benefits drew fewer than 30 comments from interested parties during the proposed rule's 30-day comment period, which ended July 4.... According to the proposed rule, HHS wants each state to use the small group market plan and product with the largest enrollment as the default benchmark plan if a state doesn't select its own benchmark plan." (HealthLeaders Media)

IRS Gearing Up for New Responsibilities in Health Care
"The Supreme Court's decision to uphold most of President Barack Obama's health care law will come home to roost for most taxpayers in about 2-1/2 years, when they'll have to start providing proof on their tax returns that they have health insur.ance. That scenario puts the Internal Revenue Service at the center of the debate, renewing questions about whether the agency is capable of policing the health care decisions of millions of people in the United States while also collecting the taxes needed to run the federal government." (msnbc.com)

ACA Battle Shifts to Insur.ance Exchange Subsidies
"At issue is whether the subsidies will be available in exchanges set up and run by the federal government in states that fail or refuse to establish their own exchanges.... The most likely challenger ... is an employer penalized because one or more of its employees receive subsidies through a federal exchange. Employers may be subject to financial penalties if they offer no coverage or inadequate coverage and at least one of their full-time employees receives subsidies." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Supreme Court ACA Decision to Trigger Compliance Frenzy, Array of New Fees
"Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has survived its constitutional challenge, companies will markedly ramp up the implementation of its provisions in the coming months. Significant regulations will continue to be issued, including those related to employers' 'pay or play' decision ..., the methodology for determining who is a 'full-time employee,' the operations of the state-run health-insur.ance exchanges provided for in the law, automatic enrollment in health plans, and more.... Implementing ACA also means new direct and indirect fees and assessments for employer plans[;] a Transitional Reinsurance Assessment Fee paid by a third-party administrator (for self-insured plans) or the insurer (for insured plans) (2014-2016); a new fee imposed on health insurers' insured business (2014); and new fees on medical device manufacturers and prescription drug makers (2013)." (CFO.com)

Health Plan Design Decisions that Affect Consumers' Choices
"This [Consumers Union] report explores how six health plan chooser tools—ehealthinsurance, CMS plan finder, Massachusetts Connector, Consumers Checkbook/FEHBP, PBGH/CalPERS and User Experience 2014—use choice architecture to guide consumers' health plan selections.... This report will be of particular interest to policymakers and designers crafting the new health benefit exchanges called for by the Affordable Care Act. The Act brings new health insur.ance choices to American consumers but, unless we pay attention to choice architecture, consumers may not be able to identify the best choice for them." (Consumers Union)

Opting Out of the Medicaid Expansion under the ACA: How Many Uninsured Adults Would Not Be Eligible for Medicaid?
"The Supreme Court ruling ... made the expansion of Medicaid coverage to nonelderly adults with incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level optional for states.... [This report estimates] the number of uninsured Americans in each state who could be eligible for Medicaid if every state takes the option of expanding Medicaid coverage. Of 22.3 mil.lion uninsured Americans who could be potentially eligible for Medicaid under the ACA, 67 percent (15.1 mil.lion) are adults not currently eligible for Medicaid. Of this group, 11.5 mil.lion have incomes below poverty and would not qualify for any other subsidized coverage." (Urban Institute)

[Opinion]

Health Care Law Helps Small Businesses Be Socially Responsible
"[I]t is important not to overgeneralize when discussing the impact the health care law will have on businesses. In fact, for companies with fewer than 50 full-time employees, the law actually provides a golden opportunity for making the kind of investment that I believe make businesses stronger in the long run. That's because, under the law, those particularly small businesses are eligible for tax credits of up to 50 percent by 2014 to offset the cost of providing insur.ance to their employees. That would give millions of small businesses the ability to provide health insur.ance to employees. Moreover, it would bring down premium costs for employers who are already providing health care benefits to their workers." (The Washington Post)

[Opinion]

Roberts Rules: First Impressions of the Supreme Court Ruling
"There can be no argument that Chief Justice Roberts crossed [the Anti-Injunction Act] bridge with a deftness that even his critics would have to admire. The opinion is a prime example of adroit lawyering, a veritable tour de force. Lawyers can certainly appreciate the art with which Roberts builds his case. But much of the general public is bound to find unsatisfactory this twisting of the word 'tax' to have entirely contradictory meanings when exactly the same economic event is tested under two separate and distinctive legislative enactments in the same litigation by the same judges on the same day, in one with the object of reaching a no-tax conclusion, in the other a tax conclusion." (Alvin D. Lurie, Esq. on BenefitsLink.com)

[Opinion]

Health Savings Accounts Under Attack
"HSAs are a force for good in health care markets and have been a positive element of the market since their creation in 2003. An HSA is an account that individuals can set up to earn tax free health care funds on an annual basis. They have been increasing in use since the day they were created. The idea behind these private accounts is to empower the consumer to make decisions on how to spend tax exempt dollars. Clearly, the last bastion of free market forces with the existence of HSAs is a threat to government run health care. As a result, government bureaucrats are targeting HSAs for death." (RedState)

[Opinion]

California's State Insur.ance Exchange Can Learn from Big Employers
"[I]f the California Health Benefit Exchange simply becomes another website where Californians can go to purchase health insur.ance, we will have missed a colossal opportunity to improve health care in the Golden State. In the current market, individuals and small businesses are not getting good value for their health care dollars. Too often, insur.ance premiums are unaffordable and the quality of service and medical care is inconsistent. The Health Benefit Exchange can change this dynamic ... [by] looking at the best practices of large employers[.]" (Sacramento Bee)

[Opinion]

How Justice Robert's 'Flying Squirrel' Maneuver Will Take Down the Affordable Care Act
"[A]nalysts were quick to characterize [the] Supreme Court decision as a ringing vindication of the Affordable Care Act and a big political victory for a struggling President Obama. However, on closer reading, the instant analysts were wrong. The Roberts Court actually punched a huge hole in the law, potentially reducing its historic coverage expansion by as much as a third. In addition, the Court's ruling will set off serious political conflict in southern and mid-western states that will ripple through those states' health care markets, and fracture hospitals' and health plans' support for health reform." (The Health Care Blog)

Risk Management for the Future: Age, Risk, and Choice Architecture
"This study [examines] how different age groups process choices in relation to future risk and retirement planning in diverse decision-making environments.... [W]hen cognitive resources are available older participants opt for more prudent and future oriented financial and retirement choices, but ... this pattern does not hold in situations that do not allow the luxury of executive control override.... At a theoretical level ... much of the difference in financial choices between older and younger decision makers rests in the ability of each age group to override their intuitive and automatic responses to such decisions. At the policy level, as the regulatory field is moving from command-and-control rules to the provision of menu options and choice architecture, [these] findings provide potential guidelines for better designing retirement and savings plans, such as the implementation of [Save More Tomorrow-style] programs and the encouragement of annuity over lump sum retirement benefits." (NETSPAR and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

Facing the National Retirement Nightmare
"A long-term care event—either with your parents or yourself—can easily destroy anyone's retirement plans. The cost of paying for long-term care at a nursing home for a few years—which insur.ance firm Genworth recently calculated at more than $80,000 per year—could pay to send a grandkid to Harvard or fund a nice retirement.... There are only two things we can do: (1) Take steps to reduce the odds of needing long-term care, and (2) prepare a plan for paying for the costs in case we need such care. Much easier said than done, of course, but that's the plan." (CBS News)

Supervisor's Comments After Employee Sought Leave Creates Viable FMLA Claim
"if an employee informs you that she needs leave to undergo a hysterectomy, [the author advises] against telling the employee it's 'not a good time to take leave,' and urging her to read the book titled, No More Hysterectomies. File this one under the category of 'Employers do inexplicable things that cause them to be sued.'... Even more compelling to the court was the manner in which [the employer] chose employees to be terminated as part of [a concurrent] RIF.... [E]vidence of disparate treatment created doubt about [the employer's] explanation that it chose employees for the RIF based on performance evaluations and discipline. From the court's perspective, this evidence—along with the various comments made to [the employee]—was enough to allow [the employee] to present her FMLA claims to a jury." (FMLA Insights)

Checklist of 408(b)(2) Plan Fiduciary Obligations After the July 1, 2012 Deadline; and What About Welfare Plans?
"Note that the 408(b)(2) fee disclosure regulations apply to retirement plan fiduciaries. The Department of Labor is still working on fee disclosure regulations for welfare plans. We are aware that certain vendors, including for example pharmacy benefit management vendors, are suggesting that there is no fee disclosure obligation with respect to welfare benefit plans until those regulations are finalized. This is NOT accurate. In order to have a reasonable contract with a service provider under ERISA section 408, all plan fiduciaries (welfare and otherwise) must take into account all direct and indirect compensation realized or likely to be realized by the vendor." (Ivins, Phillips & Barker)

Employee Plans, LLC Utilizing Benefit Informatics Data Analytics for Client Reporting and Plan Analysis
(Benefit Informatics)

ING Adds to Mid-Atlantic 401k Sales Team
(ING Retirement)

CEFEX Renews 23 Registrations
(Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX))